First Day WBT!!

I teach two different preschool classes, a 4's class and a 4PK class and was very excited to show each class my new way of teaching. 

First I should probably explain what Whole Brain Teaching is. Whole Brain Teaching (WBT) can be described as a "radical" idea, however it is, a research based system that utilizes all areas of the brain.  This way of teaching keeps children engaged throughout their lessons, and helps them retain much more information than the standard lecture-discussion model.

Whole Brain Teaching is a highly interactive form of instruction that delivers information to students in short “chunks.” Kids then teach what they have just learned to their partners, using hand-gestures to help remember specific vocabulary.  While students teach each other, the teacher walks around the room to discover who understands the lesson and who needs more instruction.

Research shows that children retain more information when they have an opportunity to put it into their own words and use gestures to emphasize key instructional units …plus, it’s amazingly fun! If you would like more information please visit: www.WholeBrainTeaching.com

So you are probably wondering how my first day went, well it went pretty well!  On Monday I have my 4's class, they are my youngest of my two classes.  I started the morning off with our circle time.  This is one of my most challenging times of our 2 hours together.  For our circle time we do the standard things that I am sure most of you all do.  It is about 15 minutes depending on how much sharing they all do.  During this time, the kids sit on the rug and we do calendar, flag, weather etc.  I have a few students (5) that "feed" off of each other during this time.  It does not take much to get them all going:) Got to love those spirited kiddos.  At the start of class I explained one of WBT basic techniques- Class-Yes!  Class -yes two words that will change my classroom forever.  Class- Yes is used as an attention grabber to bring the focus back to you the teacher.  The teacher says class and the class responds yes the same way class was said.  If I were to say Claaasss in a robot voice, the class will respond Yeeessss in a robot voice.

At first I used a regular voice until they got the hang of it, then I varied my voices. At first they all didn't really get what they were to do.  We modeled, modeled and modeled some more throughout the day. When the class would loose focus or even randomly I would use class-yes just to keep practicing.

I do have to say an “ah-ha” moment when the class actually responded and even my most wiggle worms or most spirited ones responded to this.  They were following my direction! Chris Biffle (one of the founders of WBT) was right the more educational fun we can introduce, the more they will learn.  I didn’t spend 10 out of the 15 minutes redirecting and trying to get their attention, I already had it!!!

Tuesday's class (my 4PK) went just as well.  I followed the same format as I did on Monday, and the results were the same! The kids loved it, thought it was fun and silly at times.  I am working of having more variations in my voice inflictions.  Maybe I can add in some phonics, I say, Class D! they respond Yes! Da.  Or even add in hand gestures that can be silly or rhythmic.   Only limitations are my imagination!!